Virgin Galactic Retires 'Unity,' Plans Bigger Replacement

Unity took a pilot and four passengers to an altitude of 54.4 miles, just shy of the Kármán line.

Russ Niles

Tuesday, June 11, 2024 at 01:56 PM ET

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Edited By: tccjeremy

Key Takeaways:

Virgin Galactic has retired its VSS Unity space tourism vehicle after its seventh flight, leading to a two-year operational pause until its Delta-class replacements are ready in 2026.
The upcoming Delta-class vehicles will be larger, seating six passengers, and designed for quicker turnarounds to increase flight frequency.
The company aims to significantly boost flight capacity and raise ticket prices to $600,000 to achieve profitability, targeting 750 passengers annually with the new fleet and an upgraded VMS Eve mothership.

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Virgin Galactic’s VSS Unity space tourism vehicle has been retired after its seventh flight on Saturday, and it will be at least two years before replacement craft are ready.

Unity took a pilot and four passengers to an altitude of 54.4 miles, just shy of the Kármán line (62 miles) commonly considered to the be the edge of space. It was Unity’s seventh passenger flight in less than a year, and the craft has served its purpose, according to an arstechnica report.